All good things come to an end… Really? We do see good things come to an end. But, what are you talking about?
Either the welcome is "a good thing", but then why should it end? Or it's not really "good", and then, "yes", it should end. But here’s a question: good or bad for whom? Who separates the "wheat from the chaff"? Who decides, for me, for you, for him, for her, how long the hospitality lasts and when one has to return versus being expelled?
What person, what institution can honestly decree that it is able to judge, for oneself or for others, how one is welcomed and when one must leave?
If I leave my house by force, should I go back by force? Is this how we welcome people, how we provide hospitality?
What game are we playing? At times we are hospitable and kind, and proud of it, and at other times we are showing people the way out, deciding on their date of return, of their expulsion. Hypocrisy or calculation? Cold political management or fear?
In short, if we are concerned about how we welcome people, then how long they stay should also concern us; with both, the notion of exile remains.
Unless, together, we revisit our migrant being which looks towards open societies and not closed societies where the doors are under lock and key.
Jean-Jacques
